For businesses managing both a direct-to-consumer (DTC) website and an Amazon storefront, the question of customer overlap is a pressing one. Do customers who purchase from your DTC site also engage with your Amazon page? And more importantly, does promoting your products on Amazon detract from your DTC sales, or do these platforms actually support each other?
This question has become increasingly significant, with recent studies highlighting a rise in the number of brands that are active on both Amazon and Shopify, indicating a trend towards multi-platform retail strategies. Furthermore, an increase in advertising spend on Amazon often aligns with a boost in DTC sales, suggesting a complementary relationship between the two channels.
However, quantifying this overlap has traditionally been challenging. Amazon and eCommerce platforms like Shopify and others alike, operate on separate systems, and Amazon's policies around customer data exportation, such as email and home address restrictions, complicate efforts to cross-reference customer bases.
In efforts to measure this shopper overlap, Amazon has introduced a solution through Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC), enabling brands to directly upload their first-party shopper data. This development allows for a detailed analysis of how customers interact with products and advertisements on Amazon, effectively bridging the gap between Amazon and DTC customer journeys in a way that respects user privacy.
What Qualifies as First-Party Data?
First-party data includes direct customer information such as phone numbers, home addresses, and names. This data can be integrated into AMC via Customer Data Platforms (CDP) or directly through a .CSV file upload. To ensure privacy, this data must be hashed according to Amazon's specifications before upload, a process that secures customer information while enabling its use within AMC.
Why is it Important to Integrate First-Party Data with Amazon?
Integrating your first-party data enriches the data pool within AMC, enhancing the quality of insights derived from queries and audience segmentation. This integration helps businesses identify patterns in customer behavior, such as the transition from DTC purchases to Amazon or vice versa, and to tailor their marketing strategies accordingly.
AMC is designed around anonymous identifiers known as user_ids, which track shopper activities. By uploading your DTC customer data to AMC, Amazon links these customers to its user_ids, enabling a connection between your eCommerce website’s buyers and their Amazon interactions.
For example, if a customer engages with a Sponsored Products ad and then subscribes to a service on Amazon, and the same customer has a purchase history on your DTC site, AMC can provide a comprehensive view of their shopping journey. This insight allows for a deeper understanding of customer behavior across platforms.
Bridging DTC and Amazon Shoppers with Xmars
Maximizing brand visibility and sales hinges on the integration of DTC websites and Amazon storefronts. Xmars introduces innovative solutions that effortlessly connect DTC and Amazon shoppers, simplifying the complexities of navigating multi-platform retail strategies.
Insights and Predictions
At the heart of Xmars' approach is the use of advanced data analytics and AI. This technology sifts through detailed customer interaction data, offering brands actionable insights into shopper behaviors across DTC and Amazon. With predictive analytics, Xmars enables dynamic marketing adjustments, ensuring that efforts on Amazon amplify rather than cannibalize DTC sales.
Unified Customer Insights with AMC
Understanding the customer journey across platforms can be challenging. Our AMC solutions simplify this by merging DTC first-party data with insights from Amazon, providing a holistic view of consumer interactions. This integrated approach allows for more personalized and effective marketing strategies, ensuring messages hit the mark, regardless of where the shopping happens.
Adapting and Pushing Ahead
As brands tackle the challenges of selling across multiple platforms, integrating first-party shopper data with AMC marks a big step forward. This integration deepens brand insights into customer behaviors, improving the precision of audience targeting and the development of marketing strategies.
Xmars' closed-loop process of continuous optimization keeps brands at the forefront of market shifts and consumer trends. By constantly refining campaign strategies based on fresh data, we help businesses adapt in real-time, fostering growth across both DTC and Amazon channels. By leveraging advanced data analytics, AI, and predictive insights, brands can synchronize their Amazon and DTC strategies, ensuring a unified and effective retail approach.
For more on our AMC and Amazon Advertising Solutions, please contact us and schedule a call!
